


Beta Decay

by rotatingpotatoes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hallucinations, I'm Sorry, M/M, a little gore in the second chapter, just a shitton of angst, slow burn i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2018-12-29 19:47:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rotatingpotatoes/pseuds/rotatingpotatoes
Summary: The hunters are gone, but so is Scott, leaving Liam to care for a growing pack on his own.  The life of a substitute Alpha is never easy, and a certain chimera seems to be going out of his way to make it all that much harder.Theo doesn't need anyone.  Not the pack and certainly not Liam fucking Dunbar.  But when each dream feels more real than the last, when he starts seeing his sister in the waking world, even he has to admit that he needs something.





	1. Chapter 1

Rotting. That’s what Liam had said.

_“I think you were rotting.”_

How right he’d been, and how right he still was. It had been weeks, months since Theo had clawed his way up out of the ground, and yet the dreams still haunted him. Every night without fail, he found himself back in that fucking morgue and no matter what he did differently, he always met the same grisly end.

After Scott’s pack had defeated the Ghost Riders, the dreams had stopped for a short while; slowly, Theo had begun to hope that perhaps he’d managed to escape their grip. _Stupid._ He wasn’t sure when he’d gotten so foolishly optimistic.

“Theo!’"

Liam’s voice, tight with irritation, cut through the haze that had descended around Theo’s head. Alarm shot across his skin like electricity and his immediate instinct was to spit out a snarl; resisting it was about as easy as pulling teeth. Looking up, he saw Liam standing in front of him, his face creased in obvious frustration.

“Sorry, what?” he asked, feigning boredom.

Liam rolled his eyes and launched into a rambling tirade, one Theo was fairly certain he’d run through multiple times already. Theo tried to focus, he really did, but the dusty basement, filled with the smell of decay, reminded him too much of _there_. Every time he tried to push the thought away, something would flicker on the edge of his vision and his heart would go racing away all over again. Liam, too preoccupied with his own problems, didn’t notice a thing.

“We need someplace to live,” he was saying. “Someplace safe, with enough space for all the new members. I mean, Scott, Malia, Lydia, and Stiles are gone, but we can still barely support ourselves.”

“Yeah… none of this is actually my problem,” Theo drawled, purely for the satisfaction of watching Liam's annoyance grow. The beta shot him a glare.

“First of all, you owe me,” Liam snapped, leveling a finger at Theo’s chest. “That makes it your problem.”

Theo's temper flared.

“Jesus, I’ve saved your ass how many times? I don’t owe you _anything_.”

Liam took a half step backwards and it was only then that Theo realized he’d been shouting. Grimacing, he turned away to study a crack in the wall.

“Whatever,” he muttered. “I’ve had enough of this dump.” Shoes scraping on the dirty floor, Theo strode across the room to the door, ripping it open with a vicious yank.

Trotting up the stairs into the cold morning, Theo felt the vice around his lungs loosen and the relief as oxygen flooded back into his lungs. He paused at the top to gather himself, rubbing a hand across his eyes in a vain attempt to banish the headache forming behind them.

“What do you want from me?” he whispered. Tara didn’t answer. With a tired sigh, Theo let his hand drop and set off through the trees.

\---

Not a day went by where Liam didn’t genuinely wish he could put Theo back in the ground. That’s how it felt, anyway. 

Sometimes he could be bearable, enjoyable even. There were times when being around Theo felt easy and natural, as if they’d been friends for years. Other times, Liam wanted to break every bone in the chimera’s body, wait for them to heal, and break them all again.

Liam spent a couple more minutes surveying the dusty bunker, sweeping his glare over the walls like he could intimidate them into taking the shape he needed. It was a fantastic location- isolated, hard to find, even harder to break into- but there was no way a pack of fifteen could fit in here. At last, Liam had to admit defeat and climb the stairs after Theo.

The chimera’s scent still lingered when Liam emerged, but aside from that there was no trace of him, not even a footprint in the mud. That’s how it always was with Theo. He’d disappear for days on end without a word, only to show up again, smiling like nothing had happened. Though Liam was tempted to ask where the chimera went so, he never had, because doing so would be like admitting he gave a shit.

Suddenly, a harsh tone shattered the gentle chatter of the forest. Liam nearly jumped out of his skin and, once he recognized the sound, scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket. Holding the screen up to his face, he saw Mason’s name in blocky letters.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Liam. Ha. So, how’s your day been?”

Liam bit back a groan.

“What happened?” he asked, already prepared for the worst.

“Nothing, nothing,” Mason rushed to say. He hesitated for a moment and Liam had to consciously push his impatience down. Instead of snapping, he started walking, his senses on high alert as he headed back to the car. Even with the hunter threat eliminated, none of the supernaturals had been able to shake the feeling that something was watching them.

“You see,” Mason continued, “there’s just this one _tiny_ thing-”

“Is it Nolan?” Nolan. Just forming the name made Liam’s tongue want to roll over and die.

“No, he’s still MIA for now,” Mason said. “It’s, well… it’s difficult to really explain over the phone so you’d better just get here fast.”

Liam sighed, but if Mason thought he needed to see something, he probably did.

“Okay, where are you?”

“The cemetery.”

“Sure,” Liam muttered. “Why not.” 

He was getting fairly close to the car now and it was only then that he remembered: Theo had driven them here. 

Biting back a few choice words, Liam ran the last few yards and burst out of the brush, fully expected to find the truck gone. To his surprise, it was sitting right where they’d parked it, its dark sides spattered with mud. It was also empty.

Slowly, Liam approached the vehicle. It was a big, hulking thing, which was weird because Liam had always thought of Theo as a muscle car kind of guy. He half expected to find a hunter waiting on the other side of the truck, gun in hand, but when he rounded the grill of the car, there was nothing. Well, nothing but a set of keys lying amongst the leaves. Frowning, Liam scooped them up.

“Liam? Liam, what’s going on.” Liam started; he’d completely forgotten Mason was on the phone.

“Nothing, I think,” he said, though his voice still sounded uncertain.

“Liam.”

“Theo’s gone again.”

“Is that really a bad thing?”

That made Liam laugh, even if it was only for a second. Finding the key to the truck was easy and he quickly unlocked the driver’s side door. Climbing up into the seat, he stuck the keys in the ignition and turned them. With an impressive rumble, the truck came to life.

“Okay, I’m on my way back from the bunker,” Liam said as he adjusted the mirror. “I’ll see you in ten?”

“Yeah. See you.”

Then the call ended and Liam tossed his phone into the passenger seat. Look at the empty seat, he wondered where Theo had gone this time. What if the chimera was working some murderous plan now that the hunter threat was gone? He didn’t need the pack’s protection anymore.

That thought didn’t sit easy with Liam. Theo was his responsibility, so if people died because of him, that was on Liam as much as it was on Theo- maybe more. He’d track Theo down, he decided. Find out where he went and what he did. He just had to do about a million other things first- starting with whatever was at the cemetery. 

Taking a steadying breath, Liam put the truck into gear and pulled back out onto the dirt road they’d driven in on. Who knew being an Alpha would be so much work?


	2. Chapter 2

_Murderer… You’re a murderer, Theo. A thief._

Theo, curled up on the filthy sofa, didn’t move, didn’t so much as breathe. His shaking hands were clasped over his head, a futile attempt to ward off his sister’s rage, and his eyes were closed so tightly that they ached.

_You took something from me, Theo. You stole it. And it’s time you gave it back._

“Go away,” he muttered, though he knew it was useless. Like a frightened child, he hid in the shadows, whispering empty reassurances to himself in order to keep from flying apart.

_You don’t deserve to live._

“Please…”

_You’re going to rot with me, Theo._

“You’re not real-”

_Do you know remember what that feels like?_

Theo remembered. He couldn’t forget.

_The bugs are going to burrow under your skin. You're going to feel them moving, feel their legs digging deeper as they eat you alive, gorging themselves on your filth._

Clamping his hands over his ears did nothing to muffle the words. Tara’s voice cut through his thoughts like a hot knife, enveloping everything in a burning white haze until all he could hear was her.

_The birds will come for you next. They’ll start with the eyes- they’ll pluck them out, one by one. They’ll rip your lying tongue out of your mouth and peck that smile off your face. But you won’t die. You’ll feel everything as you're picked clean, until there’s nothing left of you but dust. And then it’s going to start all over again._

“Please, leave me alone,” Theo whispered. “I’m sorry, just-”

_SORRY?_

Tara’s voice, roaring and furious and so terrifyingly real, filled the room. Theo felt her breath on his hair and though he wanted nothing more than to curl into himself until nothing was left, he couldn’t stop himself from looking at her. Her eyes, cold and dead, were inches from his; they stared straight past his mask at the wretched, broken creature that hid inside. Mesmerized, Theo couldn’t move.

_You think ‘sorry’ can save you now? You think ‘sorry’ can make up for the things you’ve done, the people you’ve killed? And for what? Power?_

Tara’s voice grew dangerously soft.

_Where is that power now?_

Theo knew what was coming, but he stayed frozen as Tara’s hand shot out, blindingly fast. He didn’t so much as flinch as her fist punched through his ribs like they were paper and he watched her eyes turn bright with grim satisfaction. He felt her cold fingers wrap around his heart- no, _her_ heart- and he felt something approaching peace settle over him. 

When she ripped the still-beating organ from his chest, he felt almost relieved. Tara held the bloody thing in front of his face, her eyes blank.

_You’ve always been hollow, Theo._

“I know,” he whispered.

Tara straightened to loom over him, watching indifferently as the strength left his body. She whispered his name as he died, each repetition like a nail driving into his skull.

_Theo._

There was no point in fighting: this was how it was supposed to be.

_Theo._

He deserved to die like this, empty and gutted and alone.

_Theo… Theo…_

“Theo!”

Theo’s eyes shot open. The only thing they registered was the vague shape of someone standing over him; adrenaline shot through his veins so quickly it hurt and he reacted without thinking. Surging off the couch, Theo threw himself at his attacker and together they went crashing to the floor. One hand held Tara down while the other reared back, reading to rip his sister’s throat open. He was already swinging when his name rang in the air again.

That wasn’t Tara’s voice.

Just in time, Theo redirected his blow into the floorboards, sending chunks of wood and splinters flying. Wide-eyed, he stared down at Tara’s dead face. Then he blinked and it wasn’t Tara lying beneath him, but Liam, blood welling from long slashes across his chest. Theo’s lungs couldn’t get enough air, so he just barely managed to get the name out.

“ _Liam?_ ”

Stunned, the beta could only nod. Theo stared at him a moment longer, fearful that the moment he let go, his dead sister would reappear to finish tearing him to pieces. He searched the other boy’s face for any sign of her, but could find none. There was nothing but warmth and life in Liam’s eyes.

Abruptly, Theo scrambled up off of Liam. Holding his hands close to his body, he retreated to the couch while the other boy got to his feet, grunting with pain. Wincing, Liam peered at the gashes on his chest, which were already knitting closed. Theo stared down at his hands, stained red with Liam’s blood. Shaking, he curled his fingers into fists, ignoring the pain of his claws biting into his palms.

“Theo?” Theo felt his face twitch at the sound of his name. Liam hovered a short distance away, uncertain. “You wanna tell me what that was about?”

Without looking up, Theo shook his head.

“Get out,” he muttered.

“Theo-”

“Get out of my apartment!”

Liam snorted.

“Oh, is that what this is? I thought it was your best attempt at recreating the inside of a dumpster.”

Theo wanted to be angry- that’s what he was supposed to do- but he couldn’t muster the energy. He couldn’t even find the spine to glare, because that would involve eye contact and Theo couldn’t trust himself to lie convincingly right now. The pieces of his mask were shattered on the floor at his feet and it would take him a long time to glue them back together.

He needed Liam to leave.

“Theo, what’s going on?” The couch cushions sank and Theo shrank away.

“You’re invading my home, that’s what’s going on,” he snapped, but with no conviction. Liam didn’t speak for a while, which made Theo nervous. Liam could do some pretty stupid, impulsive shit, but when he started thinking, _really_ thinking, he was truly unpredictable.

Liam’s words, when he finally spoke again, were careful and deliberate, like he was picking his way through a minefield. Theo wanted to shake him, make him say exactly what he was thinking, but the thought of physical contact, even violent contact, made him feel sick. He could still feel the gaping wound in his chest, though he knew he’d find nothing there if he looked.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you,” Liam said, speaking slowly. “But whatever it is-”

“I swear to God, if you say I need to talk about it-” Theo’s throat tightened, choking off what was going to be a pathetic attempt at a threat. Liam huffed.

“Well, you should.”

“This is really touching, Liam, but you can cut the bullshit,” Theo spat, voice dripping with venom. “I’m not your beta, and you sure as hell aren’t my alpha, so quit fucking acting like it.”

Theo could sense Liam’s body tightening with anger, but he didn’t have the capacity to feel bad about it right now. The dreams, the hallucinations, they were putting him on an edge so razor-thin, Theo feared it would slice him in half.

“I know you’re not my beta,” Liam said, making a truly heroic effort to contain his temper. “But you are my responsibility.”

“Yeah, if I go murder a civilian or something! That doesn’t mean you have to hold my fucking hand and tell me everything’s going to be okay.”

“You’ve done a whole lot of evil things-”

“Oh, fuck off.”

“Let me finish! Yes, you’re an evil, murderous sociopath and I kind of want you to burn in hell. But you’ve also been through some pretty messed up shit. Don’t get me wrong, you deserved most of it. All of it, actually.” Liam took a breath. “But I-”

And it was there that he faltered. That sparked Theo’s curiosity and almost without meaning to, he looked up. Liam was staring at him with a deep frown on his face, though it seemed more conflicted than angry. Theo didn’t want to ask- that ‘but’ scared him for reasons he couldn’t identify- but he found himself opening his mouth anyway.

“But… what?”

Liam didn’t answer, just kept staring at him, his fingers tapping madly on his knee. Theo stared back, his expression carefully blank, and the seconds dragged by in silence.

Eventually, Liam shook his head and turned away, leaving Theo feeling oddly disappointed. He hated being left in the dark.

“Your truck’s out front,” Liam said, still not looking at Theo. Theo blinked; if he was being honest, he’d completely forgotten he’d left the truck in Liam’s care.

“Keep it,” he said. Liam finally met his eyes, his eyebrows creased in confusion, and Theo shrugged. “What do I need it for? I’m not going anywhere.”

Liam studied him for a moment longer before nodding, though he still looked unsure. Turning on his heel, the beta headed for the door, and suddenly Theo wanted to take it back. That truck was all he had; until a little while ago, it had been his home as well as his only mode of transportation. If someone found out he was squatting here, he wouldn’t have anywhere to go.

But when he tried to speak, when he tried to open his mouth and demand the keys back, the words stuck in his throat. He watched as the door swung shut behind the golden-haired beta, and like that he was gone. Slumping back on the sofa, Theo stared at the closed door as he turned Liam’s words over in his head. He certainly had a lot to think about, but it always came back to that one question. That one, stupid question:

What had Liam been about to say?

Liam was… well, he was different. After all the shit Theo had put him and the rest of the pack through, Liam should hate him. Instead, he was showing up at his apartment- an apartment Theo had been careful to keep a secret- and trying to get him to ‘talk about it’. To be honest, for once.

Honesty wasn’t something that came easily to Theo. Liam knew that. He’d been brought up on lies and deception and manipulation, even before he’d joined the Dread Doctors, so it was no surprise that admitting weakness was so difficult for him. But what Liam hadn’t known, when he’d been sitting on the couch next to Theo, was how badly he wanted to let it all spill out. The dreams, Tara, every single memory from that place that had been etched in perfect detail on the inside of his skull. 

What scared Theo wasn’t the honesty. It was the fact that he _wanted_ to be honest, and the possibility that once he started talking, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Who did Liam think he was, making him feel like this?

“Fuck you,” Theo hissed. Immediately he felt better, so he said it again. “Fuck you, Liam.”

The words were music to his ears. He said repeated over and over until they lost all meaning, until they were just sounds punching through the air as he screamed at the ceiling.

Who was Liam to come in here, act like his friend, and ask him to reveal things he’d never told anyone? Who was Liam to make him want to? 

Distantly, Theo registered the sound of someone stomping down the hall, but he ignored it. Nothing could get through to him, not the pounding on his door, not the threat of physical violence that followed. It wasn’t until he heard the landlord’s heavy footsteps stomping down the hall that Theo finally gave in and fled.

When the window in the bedroom refused to budge, Theo kicked it out. Alerted by the noise, the landlord came running in, but by then Theo was long gone. He tore through the woods, each step taking him farther and farther from Beacon Hills, but it was no use. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t outrun the questions splitting his head open.

They came faster with each second, growing louder and more demanding until Theo couldn’t hear anything over their noise, not even the sound of her heart pumping blood through his veins. A pained noise escaped his mouth and he stumbled to a stop, hands clutching his head. 

Falling to his knees, he pressed his forehead against the cold earth and tried to silence the noise in his head, but nothing worked. It only got louder and louder and _louder_ \- until he couldn’t take it anymore. Man became beast and at last- _at last_ \- everything was quiet.

\---

The thin, wiry coyote gazed up at the moon. A half moon, it recognized, but the size of the moon meant nothing to it. In the distance, a branch snapped and the creature's delicate ears swiveled to cup the sound. A single thought, like a drumbeat: 

_Prey._

Like a bullet, the coyote shot off through the trees, ears alert and tongue lolling as its long legs carried it over the hills. It didn’t think much- didn’t need to- but it did think of blood. It thought of the icy stream running between the hills where the water ran clean and the deer came to drink. It thought of the small den just a few short paces from that stream, small and warm and secure, where it could curl up when the sun rose. It thought of the glittering lights overhead as well as those down in the valley, the ones that looked like stars from far away. It thought of wind and earth, the feeling of its limbs stretching as it ran, and the promise of a full belly awaiting it just a little ways away, but Theo?

Theo Raeken thought of nothing at all.


	3. Chapter 3

Liam pulled up in front of his house and cut the engine, but he didn’t get out of the car. Theo’s car. It felt like the chimera was making less and less sense every second. Only three days ago, he’d been up and walking around, being his usual, asshole self, but when Liam had stepped into that moldy apartment, he’d barely recognized the person curled up on the sofa.

People were supposed to look more peaceful when they slept- that was the rule in all the books and movies. 

Theo Raeken was the exception to that rule. Liam had been able to smell the fear clinging to every wall the instant he’d opened the door. He hadn’t even realized the tiny lump of blankets on the sofa was a person until it whimpered. The look on Theo’s face as he slept had been so terrified, so broken and defeated, it had taken Liam’s breath away.

How was anyone supposed to live with that fear hiding inside of them?

Then Theo had exploded off the couch and Liam had his answer. Theo was a lot of different things, and it felt like those things changed by the minute, but one thing remained the same. The one constant, the one facet of his dizzying persona that never wavered, was his absolute _need_ to survive.

_”I’m on your side as long as it helps me.”_

The chimera had never been shy about what kind of creature he was. The only person Theo cared about was himself, which was why Liam was so confused by his recent behavior. It made perfect sense, now that the entire town wasn’t hunting supernaturals like a modern Salem, for Theo to take his truck and his stupid, smug face and burn rubber until the gas ran out.

So why was he still here? Why was he holed up in some rotten apartment, letting whatever he was hiding eat him alive? Part of Liam wanted to turn the truck around and drive straight back to the apartment, to make Theo tell him everything, but the other part, the part Scott was counting on to keep the pack safe, reminded him that he had bigger problems to deal with than tending to a chimera so damnably frustrating that Liam wanted to rip his own hair out.

Looking up from the dashboard, Liam saw his father watching from the kitchen window. No doubt he was wondering where his son had gotten this monster of a truck. The tight line between his eyebrows suggested irritation. That was likely due to the fifteen teenagers crowded into his living room, looking and smelling like they’d just gone mud wrestling. Liam was going to have to explain that too.

Swallowing his hesitation, Liam gathered his things and got out of the truck. It was going to be a long couple of days.

\---

Later that night, after laying the groundwork for a plan that would take care of the rogue wendigo, as well as going over the new contenders for a pack “base”, Liam barely had the energy to climb the stairs to his bedroom, let alone worry about Theo. The chimera was the farthest thing from his mind until he flopped down on top of his comforter and the truck’s keys jingled in his pocket.

Pulling them out, Liam turned them over in his hand, studying the other keys on the ring. There were a few that looked like house keys and one that might have been a mailbox key, but the rest were a mystery to him, much like their owner. There was only one keychain on the ring and Liam isolated it to examine it more closely.

It was a wholly unimpressive item. At first it appeared to be merely a simple leather strip, but upon closer inspection Liam could make out a few letters stamped into the hide. An ‘A’ and a ‘K’ were all that was left of what had perhaps been a name; the rest had been rubbed away.

Instantly, Liam felt like he was overstepping some sort of boundary. This was something important to Theo- those letters hadn’t gotten rubbed away on their own. Sitting up, Liam bounced the keys in his hand for a second before dropping them on the nightstand. He’d go back tomorrow. He’d give the keys and the truck back, and then he’d leave. Theo was right- Liam’s only responsibility was making sure the chimera didn’t make another bid for power, nothing else. Whatever Theo was going through, it wasn’t Liam’s problem.

His decision made, Liam got up and changed for bed. He crawled under the covers and within seconds, he was asleep, but the chaos of his day followed him even there. His dreams were full of bright eyes, the prick of claws at his throat, and the overwhelming stench of fear.

\---

The next morning was a whirlwind of activity. First order of business, Liam needed to make sure the wendigo was taken care of. Harper and Jesse reassured him that they had it under control, but Liam still felt uneasy letting them take on the creature alone.

“Call me if anything- hey!” Liam waited until both werewolves were looking at him. “If anything goes wrong, you call. Got it?”

They both nodded and with that they were gone. Liam blew out a nervous breath, but he didn’t have time to stand around and worry. Mason and Corey were expecting him out at an abandoned farmhouse at ten, which meant he only had an hour to drop the truck off at Theo’s before he needed to start heading out of town. 

Liam sped the whole way to the apartment complex, eager to get the ordeal over with. His parking job was positively heartbreaking, but he didn’t have the time nor the will to fix it. He ran up the stairs to the third floor where he’d found Theo the day before, but the second before he rounded the corner, he heard voices. None of them sounded happy, so he stopped to listen.

“Did you get a good look at him?”

“No, the bastard was already gone before I got in. Broke my fucking window, woke up half the building screaming about God knows what.”

Something cold slithered down Liam’s spine. Had someone found Theo and tried to kill him? What if he’d had another dream, one Liam hadn’t been around to pull him out of?

“Well, thank you for your report. We’ll see what prints we can pull from the apartment.”

Liam doubted they’d find anything but layers upon layers of mold. He hurried back down to the truck before anyone caught him eavesdropping, his mind whirring, and pulled away just as the officer emerged from the building. With nothing else to do, Liam drove out of town.

So Theo was missing again. Great, that was just… great. Add that to the teetering mountain of problems Liam was desperately trying to juggle. His fingers locked around the steering wheel and he fought the urge to rip it off.

Getting to the farmhouse was a little complicated and involved taking multiple overgrown dirt roads. Liam got lost twice, but even so, when he pulled up next to Mason’s car he was ten minutes early. Stepping out of the truck, he waved to the couple as they made their way down from the barn.

It didn’t take them long to realize this wasn’t going to work. The house was partially collapsed, the barn was infested with mice, and simply getting to the property required four-wheel drive and a map. Liam felt defeated as they walked back to the cars, but it was a feeling he’d been anticipating. 

“What about the loft?” Mason asked. Liam shook his head.

“You think Derek’s gonna let all of us crash with him every night?”

“Yeah. You’re probably right.”

They lapsed into silence for the rest of the walk. When they reached the cars, they all stopped and looked at each other, nonplussed. It felt like they’d gone over Beacon Hills with a fine-toothed comb and found nothing, but there had to be something they’d missed. There had to be someplace where a whole pack could live comfortably- they just hadn’t found it yet.

“Well, we should probably head back,” Mason said eventually. Liam nodded. No new ideas were presenting themselves. They made plans to regroup at the Stilinski’s house later to regroup. In the meantime, Mason and Corey were going to study at the library, while Liam was going to check in with Harper and Jesse. 

Reception was nonexistent out at the farmhouse (another mark against it) and Liam was nearly back in Beacon Hills by the time it became reliable enough to make a call. It took the two betas three calls to pick up, which sent Liam’s nerves through the roof. When she finally picked up, Jesse’s voice was breathless and it became painfully obvious what they’d been doing.

“We said we’d call if there were problems, and there weren’t any problems,” she protested in the face of Liam’s anger. Without another word, Liam ended the call and very nearly through his phone out the window. Instead he threw it into the empty passenger seat and pressed his forehead against the steering wheel. Sucking a breath in through his nose, it suddenly struck him how strongly the truck smelled of Theo.

Which made sense- it was Theo’s truck. It smelled like earth and fear and a heady, animal musk. Opening his eyes, Liam sat up and tried to focus. A sour scent came floating from the backseat and he found himself twisting around to see what it was. He found a set of old clothes balled up under one seat, stained with dirt and what he knew had to be blood. Shivering, he threw the clothes back on the floor and reached for his phone.

After sending out a group text confirming the time of the pack meeting later that day, there was nothing to do but head home. There were plenty of normal teenager things- like homework- that he should be worrying about. Theo should be the last thing on his mind, but with the chimera’s scent in his nose and his absence sitting like a stone in Liam’s chest, that was impossible.

Liam drove home in a daze. Through force of habit, he found his backpack where he’d dropped it on Friday and set up shop at the dining room table, but his eyes saw nothing as he stared at the page. There was only one question he wanted to answer, and it certainly wasn’t in his chemistry textbook.

_Where was Theo?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up, y'all. It's me, the gremlin. I know I haven't updated in a couple weeks and I'm sorry. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try to update again soon but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	4. Chapter 4

Liam didn’t think he could sit still a second longer. His skin was crawling and his chemistry assignment was swimming before his eyes. With each passing second, his control slipped a little farther, and he wanted nothing more than to run for the door.

What was the point of it anyway? After everything that had happened, the Anuk-Ite, the town turning against them, going through the motions of school and homework felt absurd. There were still people who refused to come near him, who hissed ‘monster’ at him in the locker room. 

Some days, Liam just wanted to scream. But colleges weren’t going to let up on him just because his town had collectively tried to murder him, so he kept going. 

With painful effort, he dragged his focus down to his assignment and started scribbling in answers. By the time the others started showing up for the meeting, Liam’s handwriting was illegible. He was more than happy to pack up his things for the night and talk with the pack while they waited. Once the last stragglers trickled in, they got started.

The meeting was depressing, but blissfully short. No one had any new ideas, now that the farmhouse was officially unviable, so Liam sent everyone home with instructions to keep looking. He didn’t say it, but everyone looked about as hopeful as he felt.

Mason hung back to offer words of encouragement, but they felt hollow. His friend seemed to realize that, because he left with Corey after only a few minutes. Liam raked a hand through his hair with a frustrated growl.

Why couldn’t something work out for once?

Suddenly, the ceiling felt like it was crushing down on him and all the air in the room vanished. He wanted to run and he wanted to slam his fists into the walls until there was nothing left of them.

“Screw this,” he muttered. 

Moving quickly, he snatched his phone up off the table and bolted for the door, grabbing Theo’s keys off the counter as he blew by. He wasn’t sure where he would go, but it didn’t matter. The truck tires screamed against the pavement as he peeled away.

Engine roaring, Liam sped out of town. Whipping past the welcome sign, he felt a weight lifting off of his chest. With each mile he felt his responsibilities slipping away like a shedded skin, like the moment he left Beacon Hills, the person who was Liam Dunbar ceased to exist.

This thought came with a bitter twist of irony. In the pack’s fight against the Ghost Riders, Liam had quite literally been erased from existence; the experience wasn’t quite as liberating as people liked to imagine. Images of the train station flashed behind his eyes and he shook them away. That was done. That was finished.

Distracted by his memories, Liam lost track of the road. He took each turn by instinct as he wound his way through the hills and when his headlights lit up a dirt road winding off into the forest, he twisted the wheel towards it without hesitating. The truck shuddered as its tires sank into the dirt path, but it set off through the trees without complaint.

Minutes passed, but they felt like hours. Liam could’ve driven forever like that, surrounded by trees and shadows. He wasn’t sure how far he went, but when he finally stopped, night had completely fallen. It wasn’t the darkness that gave him pause, however. It was the coyote, thin and ragged, standing in the center of the dirt road, its eyes glowing in the truck’s headlights.

The truck still idling, Liam jumped down onto the road. The coyote didn’t move as he rounded the front of the truck, nor when he started towards it. Liam didn’t need an alpha’s roar to know that this was no ordinary coyote.

“Theo?” he said. The coyote’s eyes lit up gold for just a heartbeat, confirming his suspicions.

For a moment, relief was all Liam felt. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been, but now that Theo was standing in front of him, safe and unharmed, it all came flooding in. He had about five seconds of peace before he felt a prickle of anger.

“You wanna tell me why the _police_ are looking for you?” he snapped, voice laced with irritation. The coyote didn’t respond, instead staring at him for what seemed like ages until Liam was three second away from reaching out and throttling it.

“Dammit, Theo-” he started, and like that the coyote was gone, darting up the path with breathtaking speed. Liam gaped after it for a moment before he jolted into action. 

Running back to the truck, he threw himself inside and slammed the door shut. The tires spun for a moment, searching for traction on the muddy slope. Finally they caught and the truck lurched forward, engine groaning as it climbed after its quarry.

Theo led him all over, bounding up and down the endless hills with equally limitless energy. Even in the truck, Liam struggled to keep up, sometimes getting stuck in a particularly muddy spot, but he never lost the coyote for more than a few seconds. Before long he realized it wasn’t running from him, but leading him. Curiosity battled with anger in his head as he pressed the accelerator down.

Just as Liam was close to giving up, Theo slowed. For a moment he considered running the coyote over, but reluctantly he eased off the gas and allowed the truck to bounce along behind the wiry creature. They had to be miles from town now, and Liam wasn’t excited about making his way back in the dark. Whatever was out here had better be worth it.

Just then, they rounded a thick copse of trees. The road ended just a few hundred yards ahead at the mouth of a steep, rocky ravine. And nestled inside, tucked between the two slopes, sat a great, towering house.

“What the hell…” he whispered.

Suddenly, one of the back doors swung open and Liam nearly jumped through the roof. He whipped around in his seat to see Theo standing with one hand braced against the door, smirking and covered in dirt.

“Don’t fucking- _oh my God, where are your clothes?_ ”

Liam couldn’t turn back around fast enough as Theo climbed inside, completely naked. His face burned as he listened to the chimera root around. Theo, seemingly unconcerned with his extreme state of undress, was rambling about the house. Afraid to speak, Liam let him.

“Found it the last night on hunt,” Theo said from behind Liam’s right shoulder. “There isn’t a fresh scent for miles around so I doubt anyone lives here. I know it looks kind of beat-up but it shouldn’t be too hard to repair.”

A jacket hit the stereo and fell to the floor. Moments later, Theo followed it, climbing into the passenger seat with a fair bit of grumbling. Fearfully, Liam glanced sideways, but the chimera was now sporting a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Ignoring him, Theo reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a phone. 

With a start, Liam realized how thin Theo looked. His shirt hung off of him like a sheet and his pants were barely clinging to his hips. Covered in dirt as he was, he looked like he’d been living in the woods for weeks, not days.

“Like what you see?” Theo asked without looking up. His thumbs fluttered over the screen for a moment longer before he shut the phone off and tossed it into the backseat. Liam stuttered out some sort of response and Theo snorted.

“Nevermind,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Come on, you should see the inside.”

A gust of night air filled the cabin as Theo climbed out, stretching before he slammed the door shut behind himself. Liam watched him, uncertain, but eventually he followed suit. It was colder than he’d expected, so he took a moment to zip up his jacket. Looking up at the house, Liam dared to hope. Could this finally be it?

Theo was standing impatiently a few steps away, so Liam shook himself out of his thoughts. Hunching his shoulders against the cold, he went to join the chimera and, together, they strode towards the house.


	5. Chapter 5

The woods were eerily silent as they crossed the open space. Ahead of them, the old house loomed, its timbers creaking and its hollow windows staring out at them like eyes, watching their approach with quiet malice.

Looking up at it, Theo’s should’ve felt wary. That’s what animals were supposed to feel when faced with something dark and unfamiliar, but the list of things that scared him was growing shorter and shorter by the day. Sooner or later, the only thing left would be a name.

A shiver crawled up Theo’s spine and he found himself walking faster in spite of himself. Liam kept pace, his steps crunching on the dead leaves that coated the forest floor, so Theo focused on that sound and felt his heartbeat slowing again. 

The house’s shadow fell over them as they reached the sagging stairs and Theo felt a chill spread across his skin. The stairs looked less than stable, so he held tight to what was left of the railing until he was safely on the porch. Liam joined him, stopping at the top to look up at the house, eyes critical. 

Theo watched him, trying to interpret the thoughts on his face, but he found himself listening to his heartbeat instead. It was steady and slow, like a promise. If he concentrated hard, Theo could almost block out the faint sounds of breathing in his right ear.

“This is… perfect,” Liam said, after a long while. He still wasn’t looking at Theo- hadn’t since the coyote had climbed naked into his truck- but his heartbeat remained even: he wasn’t lying. Theo wasn’t sure why that mattered so much.

“It’s in bad shape now, but nothing a few weeks of work couldn’t fix,” Theo mused. Liam nodded, his eyes roaming over the house, then turned towards Theo.

“Have you been inside?” he asked. Theo bobbed his head in a nod. 

Gesturing with one hand, he beckoned Liam towards the front door. It looked like one good shove might take it clean off its hinges, so Theo was careful about pushing it open. A rush of dust tickled his nose, but he managed to fight off the sneeze. Turning, he spread his arm in a grand gesture.

“After you.”

Liam gave him a hard look and, after a moment’s hesitation, ducked inside. Theo followed right on his heels and tried not to flinch as the door clattered shut behind him.

\---  
Despite his best efforts to keep it down, Liam felt the hope in his chest growing. The house wasn’t anything to look at, but it was functional and it hadn’t sent him through the floorboards yet. That in itself was a victory.

As he straightened, brushing dust out of his hair, Liam found himself standing in a short hallway. A crooked staircase sat to his right and a three-legged table leaned against the wall to his left, drawers hanging open. The walls themselves were stained and peeling, but they were all standing and contained an impressively low number of holes. Liam took that as a good sign.

A muffled curse announced Theo’s arrival as he ducked through the door behind him, triggering a small avalanche of dust that cascaded over his shoulders. Liam choked on a laugh, looking away when Theo shot him a glare and pretending to study the staircase while Theo shook the dust from his clothes.

“What’s up there?” he asked. Theo shrugged.

“Bunch of rooms, what looks like a study-” 

Theo’s statement was cut short by a violent sneeze. Liam couldn’t contain his laughter, but Theo was too busy struggling to breathe to glare at him much.

“And down here?” he asked, wandering towards the stairs as he spoke. Carefully, he put his weight on the first step. It gave a horrendous groan that grated on Liam’s ears, but held.

“There’s a big room down the hall,” Theo said from behind him, his voice strained. “Some more rooms, a kitchen-”

He broke off again and Liam smiled. Leaving the chimera to his sneezing fit, he slowly made his way up the stairs, gaining confidence with each step. The creaks and groans each made were absolutely terrifying and one step had completely rotted away, but he had no trouble stepping over it.

By the time Liam reached the second floor, Theo had fallen silent down below, and when he turned to look back down the staircase, there was no sign of him. Old habit made him suspicious, but he dismissed the feeling. What could Theo possibly get into all the way out here?

Turning slowly, Liam scanned the hallway he’d landed in. It stretched off in both directions, the doors on both sides of it in varying states of decay. Some were missing entirely, either fallen or taken, but most had managed to survive the elements. To his left, the hallway turned a corner and disappeared deeper into the house. To his right, a set of double doors at at the end of the hallway; those had to lead to the study Theo had mentioned. 

Curiosity eventually won out and Liam started down the hallway towards the double doors. He stopped at a couple other doors along the way, peering into the rooms they led to, and found two large bedrooms and a bathroom, ancient if the dirt-crusted sink was anything to go by. That left two more doors unexplored, but Liam figured he could get to them in time. It was the study he was really interested in.

Reaching the double doors, he pressed his palm against the them. They were surprisingly sturdy, thicker and heavier than the rest of the doors on the hall. It was no wonder these had survived when others hadn’t: these had been meant to last. Liam took a moment to listen, but the only heartbeat he heard was his own. The room beyond the doors was empty.

Heavy had been the operative word- Liam had to throw most of his weight against the doors to get them to open. While the doors had escaped the ages largely unscathed, the hinges were a rusted mess and they screamed as Liam forced them to turn. The sound was torture on his ears and he bit back a pained snarl. As soon as he’d made a gap wide enough to fit through, he stepped back and shook his head, ears ringing.

“Not the best time to have supernatural hearing,” he muttered to himself. His ears still felt like they’d been impaled with nails, so he was forced to rely on scent alone as he approached the door. The only things he could smell were dust, mold, and something so foul it made him want to gag, but he was still wary as he squeezed through the opening he’d made, keeping his eyes peeled for threats.

Immediately, he noticed the source of the stench. There wasn’t much left of it, whatever the hell it used to be before it had crawled up here and died. Liam’s eyes were watering and he held his breath as he stepped around it, but he still felt the overwhelming urge to vomit. To distract himself, he looked around.

Study was an appropriate name for the room. It was lined with cluttered, the sagging bookshelves, their contents in disarray, and even more books covered every space that could be made available. A grand fireplace sat in the wall to Liam’s right, with what looked to be burnt newspapers still lying amongst the ashes. Old wrappers lay strewn across the floor and sat tucked in the folds of the moldy couches that were pushed up near the fireplace.

_Looks like we’re not the only people looking for somewhere to hide._

Liam couldn’t tell how old the trash was, but the newspapers looked older. With any luck, the squatter was long gone.

Pivoting, Liam took a look at the rest of the room. The other side of it hadn’t escaped destruction either. The table situated near the shelves was split down the middle, spilling old books onto the floor where they too had been ravaged by age. The chairs had fared no better- their cushions had been slashed and the stuffing strewn across the floor. There wasn’t a book untouched, a shelf still rigid. The destruction was so complete, Liam half suspected someone had taken the room apart intentionally. The only thing that seemed to have escaped was the desk.

It sat directly across from the door- perhaps to impress people as they came in the door, or maybe so the person sitting at it wouldn’t be caught unawares. Either way, the importance of the desk was undeniable. Not only was it completely bare, but upon closer inspection he found that each drawer was locked, with no key in sight. Liam jiggled one of them, trying to force it, but the lock held fast. He could just as easily force it, but even considering it felt almost sacrilegious. As he straightened, the moon suddenly broke through the clouds.

Even the cloudy window couldn’t shield Liam from the effect the moon’s rays had on his body. It was only a half moon, but he still felt something shift in his gut, something wild. Drawn by the light, Liam stepped closer to the window. The panes were clouded and filthy, but a few were missing and Liam pressed his face up to the gaps. 

Outside, the moon shone down on what looked to be the remnants of a garden, one that had become tangled and overgrown thanks to years of neglect. Bathed in white light, it looked almost magical, the sort of place where things didn’t have to be believable to be real- but that was stupid. Still, Liam couldn’t help but think of Xia and how much they’d love to turn that the snarled briars into a garden to get lost in. Liam was just getting out his phone to take a picture when movement caught his eye.

His first instinct was to assume it was Theo. Lord only knew what he’d gotten up to downstairs. The figure stuck to the shadows so it was difficult to get a look at the face, but Liam didn’t have to. He knew the chimera well enough to know that wasn’t his gait. And he also knew what a gun looked like when it was held aloft. There was only two types of people who’d be out in the middle of the woods at this hour: shapeshifters, and the things that killed them.

“Hunters.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Hunters.”

The word came out as a whisper, ghosting past Liam’s lips, but the fury in his voice was unmistakable. Hadn’t they suffered enough at the hands of the hunters? Didn’t they deserve a break? 

Liam pushed the thoughts away with a growl; whining wasn’t going to do any good now. Body tight with alarm, Liam backed away from the window and turned to leave. Moving as quietly as he could, he squeezed back into the hallway and crept towards the stairs. As he moved, he listened.

At first he couldn’t hear anything. Nerves made focusing difficult and it was only when Liam eased onto the first stair that he caught snatches of speech. He didn’t recognize the first one he heard- all he could tell was that it was male and it was angry- but the second, that voice he knew right away. There was no mistaking that snark.

All of a sudden, Liam’s chest felt tight and hot, squeezing all the air out of his lungs. A horrible, creeping idea had settled itself squarely in his mind and no matter how much he reasoned with himself, he couldn’t shake it. Everything was all too convenient: Theo’s unexpected appearance, this house, the timing. And now there were hunters here. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

Anger and fear made Liam reckless as he darted down the stairs, boards creaking under his feet as he passed from step to step. It didn’t matter though; the voices never once faltered and Liam arrived at the bottom of the steps undetected.

Now that he was closer, he could begin to make out the conversation. Theo’s voice, smug as ever, carried through the house to Liam’s ears and he followed it into the depths house.

“-doesn’t have to be like this,” he was saying, voice slippery smooth. The hunter wasn’t impressed.

“I said shut up,” he barked. “Where’s the other werewolf?”

Liam held his breath, waiting for Theo to sell him out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Liam frowned; that wasn’t what Theo was supposed to say. Holding his breath, Liam crept closer, thoughts tumbling over one another in a mad frenzy.

It made no sense for Theo to lie, not when telling the truth would not only give him space to breath, but take care of Liam as well. It just wasn’t like him. Theo should’ve thrown Liam under the bus without a second thought. But he hadn’t and Liam couldn’t make sense of that.

“Don’t lie to me!” the man snapped, jolting Liam from his thoughts. “I tracked two sets of prints out here and saw none leaving. Your friend’s here somewhere and you’re going to tell me where he is!”

“Oh, am I?” Liam cringed; why did Theo have to be an ass _all the time_?

“Don’t toy with me, dog,” the hunter sneered. Moving an inch at a time, Liam wound his way through a cluttered room full of tables and chairs and boxes, nearly tripping on several. The voices were much clearer now, and seemed to be coming from the doorway on the other side of the room. “Tell me where your friend is.”

“Can’t. Don’t have any.”

Liam was nearly at the door. As he eased himself over the ancient floorboards, he let his shift creep over his body, feeling his fingernails lengthen into claws and his teeth sharpening into points.

“I’m only going to ask you one more time,” the hunter warned. “Tell me where your packmate is or I’ll blow your brains against the wall.”

Pausing by the door, Liam’s eyes slid closed. Without his sight, his hearing became crystal clear. On the other side of the wall, he could hear two heartbeats, both racing, spaced about five feet apart.

“Well, I hate to disappoint,” Theo said, not sounding disappointed at all. “But there’s no one else here.”

There, right on that last word, Liam heard the second heartbeat jump. 

Whatever the hunter was going to say or do next, Liam never knew. At that instant, he sprang forward, claws digging into the doorframe as he swung himself around and leaped at the hunter’s back. Taken by surprise, the man stumbled forward, gun flying from his hand to land with a clatter on the crumbling tile. Both hunter and werewolf went down in a tangle of bodies.

Liam had to give the hunter credit; even caught off guard, he fought back immediately, drawing a knife from his belt and twisting to slash at Liam’s eyes. Liam just barely jerked his head back in time. Taking advantage of his distraction, the man shook him off and staggered to his feet. The hunter was already turning to attack, swinging the knife down at Liam, who was still on his knees. Digging his claws into the floor, Liam dove at the man’s knees and they both went down again.

The hunter hit the floor hard, grunting loudly from the impact, but he was far from stunned. Shouting wordlessly, he brought the knife up, ready to bring it down on Liam’s head, but the werewolf was ready this time. Grabbing the man’s wrist with one hand, Liam hauled back with the other, punching the man square in the nose. He both heard and felt the cartilage break, and the man howled in pain, but it still took three more blows before the knife joined the gun on the floor, slipping from the unconscious man’s grasp. Liam kicked both weapons away as he got to his feet, groaning.

“Took you long enough.”

Liam didn’t bother swallowing the growl that rumbled in his chest. This was just what he needed right now: of Theo’s goddamn attitude. Turning, he leveled one clawed finger in the chimera’s direction and snarled.

“Listen, you spineless sack of horse shit-” he began, but he never got to finish. Theo’s eyes went blinding gold and before Liam could so much as blink, he was moving, lunging for him with claws outstretched and a low roar on his lips. One second, he was frozen, staring like a deer in the headlights, the next he was on the floor, elbows cracking against the tile as he fell.

Pain flared, and with it came a frigid clarity. His head was spinning with all he was feeling- rage, confusion, betrayal, for some reason- but his head wasn’t in control anymore. It was the wolf that wanted to stand, the wolf that wanted to fight, and the wolf that wanted to bite, rip, tear, until his opponent lay dead at his feet. With a howl, he sprang to his feet, when a crack louder than thunder froze him where he stood. For a moment, Liam’s mind went white.

At first Liam thought Theo had shot him, which just seemed really excessive at this point, but Liam couldn’t find any injuries. A strange gurgling sound drew his attention and he turned, terrified of what he might find.

It all hit his senses at once. Theo. The hunter. Her blood. The gun. They both stood across the room, but one was breathing while the other was not. She couldn’t, not with Theo’s claws buried deep in her throat. Blood was already splashing over his hands, staining the front of her shirt as she fought for breath and lost. And yet, her face was bright with victory, not because she would live, but because pressed against Theo’s side was the barrel of her gun, still smoking.

With a grunt, Theo ripped his fingers free, hands falling to his sides as he watched the woman crumple to the ground. Swaying, he turned back towards Liam with a dizzy smile on his face. That smile faded when he saw Liam’s horrified expression, replaced by confusion. 

“Liam?”

Wordlessly, Liam pointed. Looking down, Theo seemed surprised to find a dark stain blooming on the front of his shirt. Slowly, he raised one hand to press the tips of his fingers to the wound. When they came away red, he sucked in sharp breath.

“Oh,” he breathed. “ _Fuck_ , that hurts.”

Then, like a marionette whose strings had been cut, he crumpled to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, yeah i know it's been like months, sorry. if anyone's still keeping tabs on this, you're a trooper. also, sorry if this was terrible bc i suck at writing action scenes. i rewrote the chapter three times and i'm tired so this is what you get


	7. Chapter 7

Theo had been shot before.

Hell, it was practically an initiation rite for anyone who became a shapeshifter. He knew was being shot felt like, the white heat of a bullet tearing through flesh and organs. He was all too familiar with the blinding pain that trailed in its wake, and he knew how to fight it.

This was different.

The pain didn’t just hit him, it crashed over him like a wave. Instantly he was swept away, spinning in the dark and clawing at the water as he fought for breath. His legs buckled beneath him and he crashed to the floor beside the hunter he’d just killed. She was still twitching, fighting for life, but Theo couldn’t have worried about her if he’d tried. Scrabbling with numb fingers, he pulled his shirt back, trying to get a look at the injury.

_Pressure, you need to apply pressure._

For once it wasn’t Tara’s voice echoing in his head, but his own. Theo tried- really, he did- pressing his clumsy hands to the wound in his stomach, but the pain of it made the room go dark. His arms fell to his sides, the strength was draining out of his limbs faster than he thought was possible. He couldn’t feel his legs anymore, and the numbness in his fingers was spreading, crawling through his veins towards his shoulders. 

_What the hell was in that bullet?_

The sound of his name pulled him from the the storm of his thoughts. With a wordless groan, Theo opened his eyes, searching for the source of the voice and praying he didn’t see Tara’s dead face staring down at him.

“Theo. Theo, hang on, just look at me.”

Relief, more potent than the poison in his veins, flooded his brain. It wasn’t her. Rolling his head, Theo stared up at the golden eyes that shone in the dark.

“Pretty,” he mumbled. Liam ignored him.

“I’m gonna call Mrs. McCall, okay? She-”

“Doesn’t like me,” Theo slurred. 

“Yeah,” Liam muttered. “I wonder why.”

Theo gave a dizzy grin, mouth open to fire back a retort, but then hands clamped down on his stomach and the only sound he could make was a high-pitched whimper. Fire was eating its way through Theo’s gut, burning through blood and flesh, while an icy chill spread up his limbs, leaving only numbness in its wake. A vice was wrapped around Theo’s chest, crushing all the air out of his lungs and leaving him breathless, gasping on the floor like a fish.

“Hang on, just stay with me… fuck! I can’t get a signal.”

Theo couldn’t be bothered to respond. Everything hurt and all he wanted to do was sink into the cold.

“Hey, open your eyes! Theo, dammit, look at me. Eyes on me.”

The effort was enormous, but Theo did as he was told, just to shut that stupid voice up. Everything was spinning and it was dark, but he could still see gold eyes shining down at him.

“Liam.”

“Yeah, hang on. I’m gonna figure this out.”

Weakly, Theo shook his head. It was better this way.

“You should go,” he rasped, trying to push Liam away. “More’ll come.”

“I’m not leaving you, dumbass,” Liam snapped, but his usual fire was undermined by the fear hidden beneath it. Theo coughed and tasted blood.

“Why not?” he mumbled.

That got no response, but Theo was too tired to press for one. He didn’t think he could keep his eyes open, let alone talk, so he let it go. Just let it all go. He wasn’t supposed to, but it was just so much easier to let his eyes drift closed. 

_I’m just resting_ , he reasoned. _Saving my strength._

Distantly, he could hear Liam shouting, but it was like he was standing in the middle of a dense fog, his voice muffled and the words unfamiliar. Theo wanted to tell him something, anything to make him go, but his tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth. Everything felt fuzzy, like someone had replaced all his insides with cotton. Even his stomach didn’t hurt so bad anymore.

The last thing he remembered was Liam’s eyes. Theo must’ve opened his, because they were staring down at him, wide with fear and lit like molten gold. But even their light couldn’t fight off the darkness as it reached up with icy teeth and swallowed Theo whole.

\---

He looked small. Just too damn small, and the massive hospital bed only made the different more dramatic. The harsh overhead lights made the hollows in his cheeks look skeletal, only the steady beeping of the heart monitor proving he was still alive.

Liam’s own heart was still racing in his chest; his hands, stained with Theo’s blood, shook no matter how tightly he clenched them. They ached from gripping the steering wheel, from clinging to Theo’s limp hand in a vain attempt to keep him awake. He’d been out before Liam had even gotten him to the truck, and by the time they reached the hospital, it had almost been too late.

Mrs. McCall had picked up halfway back to town. Theo was well and gone by then, held up by the seatbelt alone as blood soaked into the seat. She was standing by the emergency room door with a gurney when they pulled in, and in seconds she and the other nurses had Theo strapped in and wheeling away. She made Liam go park the truck, promising to take care of Theo, and Liam had been too dazed to argue. As he walked back into the hospital, covered in blood, he heard the first pulse of electricity go through Theo’s body.

Three times, they had to resuscitate him before they got the bullet out and he started to stabilize. The third time had taken so long, Liam was afraid they’d lost him. He still had gashes in his hands from where his claws had dug into his palms, though he didn’t feel any pain.

That had been hours ago. How many, Liam wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he’d been sitting here so long his right leg had fallen asleep and still Theo hadn’t moved a muscle.

That was to be expected. The wolfsbane blend in the bullet was a potent one, the kind that didn’t leave much room for mistakes. Theo was lucky to be alive; if it were for his coyote half, he’d be dead. Sometimes it looked like he was. Reaching out, Liam pressed his fingers to the inside of Theo’s wrist, comforted by the pulse he felt there. The heart monitor kept perfect time.

A quiet knock at the door sent Liam leaping backwards, yanking his hand back like he’d been stung. By the time Mrs. McCall peered around the door, Liam had assumed a very casual position in the bedside chair, a home decor magazine held upside down in his hands. The woman chose not to comment, though she did give him a dry look. Instead, she offered him a pile of clothes that looked and smelled suspiciously like Scott’s old sweats.

“I figured you might want to change out of those,” she said, gesturing at Liam’s own bloodstained hoodie. To be honest, he’d forgotten all about the gore covering his clothes, but now that he was looking down at himself, he couldn’t deny he looked like an ax murderer.

“Yeah, um… thanks,” he mumbled, but his legs refused to move. After a moment, Mrs. McCall stepped further into the room, setting the pile down by Liam’s elbow.

“He’s going to be fine,” she told him. Liam could hear the disdain in her voice- there was no love lost between Theo and Mrs. McCall- but he appreciated the comforting words all the same. He muttered his thanks and the nurse left, no doubt to save another life or two before the night was done. Liam’s eyes found their way to Theo’s face, but it remained slack, unchanged. With nothing else to do, Liam picked up the stack of clothes and stepped into the bathroom to change.

It quickly became clear that a change of clothes simply wouldn’t be enough. There was blood on his hands, his shoes, even on his face where he must have rubbed a hand against his cheek. Stripping off his dirty clothes, he went to the sink to wash up. Most of the blood had dried by now, which made getting it off that much harder, and by the time Liam felt clean enough to get dressed, his skin felt raw.

Scott’s clothes were no perfect fit- the pants were too long and the shirt was tight in the weirdest places. Still, they were clean, and that’s what mattered. Unsure what to do with his bloody clothes, he left them on the bathroom floor to throw out later.

Part of him hoped he’d walk back into the hospital room to see Theo sitting up in bed, eyes bright with some sarcastic comment on his lips, but the chimera was just as Liam had left him, cold and still. With a heavy breath, Liam sat back down to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't wanna jinx anything but i might??? start updating on a schedule?? at least during the summer. all bets are off once school starts. so to start i'm gonna try every two weeks, bc i have the motivation of a rock. hopefully two weeks from today you'll get another juicy chapter but who knows


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